


she had a marvelous time (ruining everything)

by saiditallbefore



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, POV Outsider, Party, Post-Canon, Worldbuilding, background Jupiter/Caine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28269276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/pseuds/saiditallbefore
Summary: To Caelia Abrasax, fourth of the tertiary branch of Abrasax,You are invited to a gala to celebrate the recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax, hosted at Seraphi’s alcazar on Anviri two weeks hence.Signed,Her Majesty, Jupiter Jones Abrasax
Comments: 22
Kudos: 69
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	she had a marvelous time (ruining everything)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weakinteraction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/gifts).



It had been more than four months since the rumored recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax had appeared, wreaked havoc among the three Abrasax primaries, and disappeared again. There were rumors that the recurrence had never existed at all— that she had been merely a pawn in some game the primaries were playing amongst themselves.

Caelia had subscribed to the latter theory. She was an Abrasax, but only from a minor branch of the house. The games played by the primaries were beyond her. Sure, she engaged in her own schemes with the other Entitled from time to time, but those involved single estates. The Abrasax primaries decided the fate of entire planetary systems.

Honestly, Caelia had put the entire incident out of her mind— until she received a sheave with Seraphi’s seal on it.

Hands shaking, Caelia set the sheave down on her table, next to her breakfast. She reached for her minty eclipse and took a long drink. Then she unsealed the sheave.

_To Caelia Abrasax, fourth of the tertiary branch of Abrasax_ , it read. _You are invited to a gala to celebrate the recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax, hosted at Seraphi’s alcazar on Anviri two weeks hence._

_Signed,_

_Her Majesty, Jupiter Jones Abrasax_

Caelia dropped the sheave in shock.

She had met Seraphi once or twice in her previous incarnation, but only in passing. She had never been personally invited anywhere by Her Majesty before. 

Maybe this was her chance. If Seraphi’s recurrence was reaching out to people outside the primary house, perhaps she was looking for a certain kind of perspective. Perhaps she was looking for the kind of perspective that _Caelia_ could offer.

She had two weeks to prepare— and then she needed to impress a queen.

* * *

Caelia stared at herself in the mirror. She’d bathed in RegeneX, washing away her gray hair and wrinkles. She was wearing the latest fashions from Nostro: a long, dark dress that floated away from her body. It was accented at the bust and waist by silver flowers, matched by the ones pinned in her hair.

Was it enough? Caelia gazed at her reflection in her mirror, watching as her attendants finished putting on her jewelry. 

She looked stunning. At any other Entitled party, she would have been confident that she would outshine all the other guests. But for this? Caelia wouldn’t be the only one bringing out all the stops.

She smoothed out a line in her forehead and sighed. Worrying brought on such _awful_ wrinkles. 

It would have to do.

Caelia swept out of her dressing room, down the hallway, and out of her ship, one of her attendants— a deer splice— hurrying behind her. She stopped just outside of her ship and onto Anviri, taking in the sight of Queen Seraphi’s alcazar stretching out before her, vast and sparkling, and filled with guests.

Caelia held her head high, and strode forward. Did she look confident enough? She hoped so; she _was_ an Abrasax after all, and it would do some of these people good to realize it.

For the first hour or so, Caelia could have almost mistaken the party for any other Entitled party— _almost_. Everyone who was anyone was there, of course, and the food and drinks were flowing freely— but there were also far more splices than usual. 

It would have been one thing if the splices had just been attending the guests, like usual. Caelia could excuse _that_. But these were _mingling_. At one point, she caught sight of a lycantant taking a drink for _himself_ from the bar.

It was, Caelia supposed, rather generous of Seraphi’s recurrence to be so inclusive. 

Just as she was musing on this, the music stopped. The lights dimmed everywhere except for on one balcony, and a voice echoed throughout the alcazar. 

“Her Majesty, the recurrence of Seraphi Abrasax, Jupiter Jones!”

The woman who stepped out onto the balcony was… well, she was almost exactly what Caelia had expected. She looked exactly like Seraphi had, of course, but there was something different about the way she held herself. Something about the way she watched the crowd below her.

The queen glanced at the splice next to her— the lycantant Caelia had spotted earlier— and then turned back to the crowd. 

“Hi,” the queen said. She cleared her throat. “I mean. Hello.” Even from this distance, Caelia could see the queen clenching and unclenching her hands. 

“I know you all probably have a lot of expectations for me,” she continued. “You probably already think you know who I am. But you don’t. I might look like Seraphi Abrasax, but I am not her.” She paused, surveying the crowd. Caelia could only imagine the expression in her dark eyes. 

“Things are going to be different from now on,” the queen said, and then she smiled. On some unseen cue, the music began again again, and the lights came back up.

Caelia saw Seraphi’s recurrence from a distance a half-dozen other times throughout the party, always with the lycantant at her side, but Caelia was no longer interested in catching her attention. Those parting words had left her with a lingering sense of unease. 

Better to make a strategic retreat back to her estate, at least until she figured out what Seraphi’s new agenda was.

* * *

“My lady, they’re here.”

Caelia waved her attendant away. She’d already seen the ship land. Now she just had to steel herself to deal with its passengers.

In the weeks since the gala, Seraphi’s recurrence had visited a number of the minor Entitled. Most of them were acquaintances of Caelia, and she’d probed them gently for what they’d spoken about. A few had sung her praises, while others had called her an upstart or a lunatic. No one had given her a straight answer, but it was clear: this recurrence was something different. 

Caelia waited for Queen Seraphi and her retinue in her receiving room. It wasn’t particularly grand, by Entitled standards— it would only hold two dozen people comfortably, and the decor hadn’t been updated in nearly a year— but it did have an excellent view of Caelia’s estate. It would look especially good now, as the sun rose over the waters below.

The doors to the receiving room opened. The queen, dressed casually in a close-fitting bodysuit, entered. She was once again attended by the lycantant.

They paused at the doorway, and the queen seemed to look straight through Caelia, her dark eyes taking everything in and revealing nothing. 

Caelia knelt. “Your majesty.”

“Please, don’t— don’t do that,” the queen said. 

Slowly, Caelia stood. “You honor me, your majesty.”

“Just Jupiter is fine,” the queen— Jupiter— said.

“Your majesty,” the lycantant interjected in a low voice.

Jupiter placed a hand on his arm. “It’s fine, Caine.”

Oh, so it was like that, then? Well, it wasn’t as though Caelia had never had a dalliance with a splice before, but really. Flaunting it openly like that was just asking for trouble— even for someone as powerful as Jupiter. 

Caelia’s mind was so busy with the possibilities that she almost didn’t hear what Jupiter said next.

“There’s no need for formalities. After all, we’re basically family. I don't make Vladie call me ‘your majesty,’ do I?”

Despite centuries of practice keeping her composure, Caelia almost choked. She and the Abrasax primaries could trace their lineage back to the same source, but they were hardly _family_. She was as far removed from them as a splice was from her.

“Of course, your— Jupiter,” Caelia managed to reply. Trying to regain some measure of equilibrium, she gestured to the furniture. “Please, won’t you sit? I’ll ring for some refreshments.”

Jupiter settled into a chair, the lycantant— Caine— leaning casually against the back. Caelia sat across a small table from them, folding her hands in her lap so she wouldn’t be tempted to fidget. A pair of sparrow splices brought them some tea, and Jupiter thanked them earnestly.

“You own the entire planet we’re orbiting, is that correct?” Jupiter asked.

Caelia nodded. “Siyana is the whole of my estate, yes. It won’t be ready for harvest for a few thousand more years, but it’s quite beautiful, don’t you think?”

Jupiter glanced at the window. “Yes.” There was an odd note to her voice, and Caine squeezed her shoulder lightly. Caelia schooled her expression, but inside, she let herself be scandalized. Imagine how people would react if they knew that the queen let a splice touch her so casually!

“Are you really set on harvesting Siyana?” Jupiter asked.

“What else would I do with it?” Caelia asked. That was what planets were _for_ — to turn a profit. 

Jupiter set her teacup down on the table. “Let me tell you about the planet where I grew up, and maybe you will have some other ideas.”


End file.
